Haas Automation, the machine tools company run by Formula 1 team owner Gene Haas, has warned US president Donald Trump’s introduction of steep tariffs on goods is having a “significant impact” on its business.
The company employs thousands of workers in the US producing tools for manufacturing. Haas promotes its business using motorsport teams in F1 and NASCAR.
Trump revealed the tariffs he would impose on imports from most of America’s trading partners last week and has raised some since then. As countries have responded by introducing tariffs of their own, growing fears of a global trade war have caused stock markets to plunge. The Standard and Poor’s 500, which tracks the stock performance of 500 leading companies in the US, has lost $5.83 trillion (£4.55tr) in value since Trump announced his tariffs a week ago.
Haas Automation described the hit its business has taken due to Trump’s tariffs in a statement, noting it is still “in the process of studying the full impact of tariffs on our operations.”
“In recent days, we’ve seen a dramatic decrease in demand for our machine tools from both domestic and foreign customers. Out of caution, we have reduced production and eliminated overtime at our sole manufacturing plant in Oxnard, California, where we employ 1,700 workers and have been in operation since 1983. We have also halted hiring and put new employment requisitions on hold.”
Haas urged the US government to introduce “tariff exemptions for raw materials and components vital to the US machine tool industry and maintain tariffs for imported machine tools.”
Despite increasing tariffs well above the rates at which other countries previously applied them to American goods, Trump has tried to characterise his policy as “reciprocal.” Rather, Trump’s tariffs charge more to countries which sell more to America than they buy.
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Trump, who attended the Miami Grand Prix during his election campaign last year, has threatened other countries with further increases in tariffs if they raise theirs to match his. He initially applied a rate of 34% to Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to announce it would apply the same this week, following which Trump increased that tariff to 104%.
Haas joined F1 as a new team in 2016. It reduced the scale of its NASCAR operation this year, slimming down from a four-car team to one.
Haas F1 team said in a statement that Haas Automation’s announcement “does not have any impact regarding MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.”
“It’s business as usual regarding the team and there is no change to our development plan, recruiting process and other projects,” it added.
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